


Guardianship Issues

by daniko



Series: In Which Harry Potter is Dumped on the Winchesters' Doorstep [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Humor, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2012-05-13
Packaged: 2017-11-05 07:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/404037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daniko/pseuds/daniko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometime between Dean’s cursing at PTA meetings and Castiel’s Fall, a letter arrived for <i>Harry Potter, The Sunniest Room in Dean and Sam Winchester’s Home</i>. Sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/226559">Dumped, Anyway</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guardianship Issues

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Leonette_sarasz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leonette_sarasz/gifts).



> Unbeta’d. Because Ash is a dear and deserves a sequel, this happened. There is, however, an appalling lack of smooches. Here’s to hoping you like it anyway, darling. I squeezed in your quote! :)

The first letter got mixed up with some publicity and was tossed away without much thought.

The second came after Dean, Sam and Harry went away for the weekend and, seeing as it rained cats and dogs that Saturday and Dean had forgotten to fix the draft in the mailbox, _again_ , the letter was so soaked it was impossible to tell the address. Dean tossed it away, as well.

The third was eaten Jo’s pet pit-bull. This pit-bull hated Dean’s guts something fierce, thus why it took great pleasure in eating Dean’s correspondence, but it had ripped out the head of a shtriga who tried to feed off Harry, so Dean grudgingly tolerated it.

The fourth, well....

The point was, by the time Dean noticed there were letters arriving for his eleven-year-old kid, they were coming by the dozen. At first, Dean though it was some particularly persistent publicity stunt, but, somehow, it was impossible to miss a stash of old parchment stuffed into his daily pie’s pink box. That was when it got serious.

“I had hoped it didn’t get to this,” was all Castiel had to offer after Dean’s gritted-out prayer.

“ _Cas_!”

Sam ostensibly rolled his eyes and got the three of them some beer, before settling on the couch next to Castiel. Dean paced.

Castiel huffed a breath. As if it was _Dean_ who was being difficult. “It’s a complicated situation, Dean. There’s been some guardianship issues concerning Harry. I foresaw this eleven years ago, that’s why I left Harry with you.”

“Guardianship issues?” Dean asked stiffly, trying to remain calm over the roaring of his heart.

“Yes. Zachariah has been meeting regularly with a man named Dumbledore for the past eleven years, trying to settle this matter once and for all, but their persistence is very well-matched.”

Dean snorted. Zachariah sure didn’t take a ‘no’ easily and if this Dumbledore fellow was anything like him....

“Yes, you can imagine the difficulty.”

“What kind of claim do they have over Harry?” asked Sam.

Castiel looked at Sam. “Harry is half an angel, half a sorcerer. Harry’s mother was a cousin. My brother Michael was always very fond of her. So he wants to raise Harry as an angel. Harry’s father, on another hand, was what you call a witch. A Seer of his kind predicted that Harry will be crucial in defeating an evil sorcerer, most likely in seven years or so, so Dumbledore is adamant that Harry gets the right education.”

“And what is, precisely, the right education?” Dean demanded, turning on Cas with his hands on his hips.

Castiel shrugged. “Seven years at _Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft_. It’s in Scotland.”

Dean’s mind went black for a moment. Then, “ _What_! No way in hell I’m sending my kid halfway around the world to learn fucking witchcraft!”

There was a suddenly rush of wind and Dean turned just in time to see Zachariah asking smarmily, “Is that so?”

Before Dean could reply, or Sam could get further than the threshold in his rush to get to Harry at the local primary school, a loud bang echoed in the room and a white-haired, willowy man appeared next to Dean.

“Mr Winchester, my name is Albus Dumbledore and I urge you to think carefully about this—.”

“Enough!” Dean roared. “Harry is not going to Scotland. Even there really is a freaky sorcerer after my kid, I’ll teach him magic myself, the kind of voodoo that protects you, and that’s it.”

“Mr Winchester, a child of Harry’s potential—.”

Dean prided himself of being a good judge of character and this Dumbledore fellow had a glint in his eyes much too similar to that of John Winchester. Dean knew all about men on missions. “If Harry is as powerful as you say he is, I’ll get some friends to teach him,” he interrupted, “but it will be on my terms. Whatever this war you’re fighting, Harry will be very far from it if I have something to say about it and, look at that, I _do_!”

Dumbledore frowned, while Zachariah chuckled heartedly.

Dean turned to him. “As for you, don’t even think about it.”

“You won’t have any choice.”

Dean opened his mouth to tell him where he could shove his choices, when Castiel spoke.

“If Harry isn’t betrothed to a magical man when he hits puberty, he’ll be heaven’s property.”

Dean blinked at him. “Excuse me? Let me see if I get this. I either send Harry to Scotland with St Nick there, marry him off to some man who could even be twenty years older than Harry and have a large nose and oily hair for all I know—” Dumbledore seemed to have inhaled his beard going by the sound he made, “— _or_ he is conscripted in heaven, to do God knows what, under the orders of Chuckles there. Is this it, did I get it right?”

The other three men made non-committal noises of agreement.

Dean pressed his lips together, temper rising. “Because, if I did, let me tell you that I’d rather _blast you all to hell right now_!” He drew the Colt. “You wanna fight me, you gonna fight me! Now, out! Out of my house!”

“Dean,” Cas tried, but Dean was quick to interrupt, “If you’re gonna try to convince me, you go as well, Castiel!” He waved his gun at the other two. “Out, I said!”

Michael gave Dean a disgusted glance. “You’ll hear from me in a year or so.”

Dumbledore, on another hand, was a bit more persistent. “Mr Winchester, there is a quest Harry must take to defeat—.”

Dean was at the end of his rope. “Listen, Santa, if there’s a quest Harry must take, my brother, Cas and I will take it with him.”

Dumbledore opened his mouth, a protest clear in his expression, but then his eyes narrowed suddenly into a calculating squint. “The three of you, you say?”

Dean could smell victory. “Yes.”

Dumbledore’s eyes narrowed a bit more, before his expression broke into a brilliant grin. “That’s quite fantastic, my boy. Shall I send you what little information I gathered so far? You might have to travel to England for the next decade, but—.”

“Send whatever you want, just shut up and leave! Don’t you have little elves to manage, or something?”

“The house-elves are pretty much self-sufici—.”

“For God’s sake, be gone!”

Dumbledore smiled genially. “I suspect we will be seeing more of each other, Mr Winchester. I can tell Harry is in good hands. Farewell, my boy,” he said and, with a mischievous little wink, vanished into thin air.

Dean slumped on the couch next to Castiel. “My life is a three-ring circus, Cas.”

“Metaphorically speaking, yes.”

Dean snorted a laugh. “Do you know anything about what is this mission Harry needs to take?”

Castiel became very serious, even for his usually deadpan expression. There was solemnity in his eyes. “It is an aberration, what this man, this evil sorcerer did. I don’t speak of it. Harry is the only one who can defeat him and we’ll have to make sure he does. Otherwise, Harry will be haunted forever.”

Dean frowned. “What can I do?”

“Nothing,” Castiel said. “It’s all up to Harry. But what you already did and keep on doing... that will be the greatest weapon Harry will take with him.”

“What is it?”

“You love him. Harry won’t forget that.”

Those words, for some reason, felt binding and prophetic.

It didn’t matter. Dean wouldn’t let anything happen to Harry and he knew Sam and Cas wouldn’t either. Among the three of them, they had caged Lucifer. What was one more freak with odd-coloured eyes?

Dean placed an arm on the back of his couch, just an inch above Cas’s shoulders. Lower and it would be just plain weird, so Dean was careful not to seem like he was hugging Cas or anything. Sam would be back any minute now. “What are we going to tell Harry?” he asked.

“The truth.”

*** 

“Wow. Just—really? I’m an angel?”

Dean exchanged a look with Sam over Harry’s head. Harry didn’t seem nearly as upset as they had expected. “Seems like it, kid,” said Dean. “Caught me totally unaware, but we took care of it.” He ruffled Harry’s hair and pulled him to his side.

“So, I don’t have to go to England?” Harry asked, voice half-muffled by Dean’s shirt.

Sam smiled at them. “You never did, Harry.”

“And if they tried, Sammy, Cas and I would be right behind you,” Dean added, squeezing Harry’s shoulders for support, although for whom was anyone’s guess. And Sam _was_ guessing, if his half-fond, half-amused smile was anything to go by. Dean scowled at him, just in case.

Sam’s smile widened into a shit-eating grin.

“And what happens when I become thirteen?” asked Harry, who looked a bit worried about that.

There was a sudden rush of air and then, “I take care of it.”

They turned to see Cas standing behind the couch, expression solemn.

Harry giggled. “Thanks, Cas.”

Castiel smiled at Harry. “It’s Thursday,” he said, in guise of a reply. “On Thursdays, I take you for ice-cream after dinner.”

“That’s right!” Harry jumped off the couch, angels and wizards already forgotten. “I’ll get my coat! Don’t go anywhere!”

Dean huffed. Children. Although... “Can I come, too, Cas? I think I need ice-cream more than Harry after today. Maybe some pie?”

“What do you mean, Dean? You always come with us.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “Because you always ask. Sammy?”

Sam tried to hide his smile, but Dean saw it. Cheeky brat, that’s what he was. It hadn’t changed in the last twenty years. “That’s okay, Dean. I’ll stay in, give you three some family time and all....”

“What do you mean, Sam? Are you and Dean not related?” asked Cas.

Dean could have smacked Sam upside the head if he could reach that far. “Nothing. Gigantor is just trying to be funny.” Harry appeared in the living-room then, all geared up for the cold. “Ready, kid?”

Harry pumped his fist. “Hell, yeah!”

Sam pursed his lips. “Language, Harry.”

Harry giggled. “Sorry, Sam.” He turned to the other two. “Now, come on! Let’s get some ice-cream!”

Dean made a show of pumping his fist in the air. He said, “Hell, yeah!” and winked at Harry.

Harry giggled, and Cas let out a throaty laugh.

Dean smiled, very pleased with himself at Sam’s eye-roll. “Come on, you two. Pie awaits!”


End file.
